Documents reveal details in Marine wife murder case

NORTH COUNTY  Brittany Killgore, the young Marine wife whose body was found in a roadside ditch in Riverside County in April, was apparently strangled with some kind of ligature, detectives said in search warrant documents released Wednesday.

Investigators said in the documents that Killgore, who went missing April 13, was likely killed in or around Fallbrook — possibly at the house on East Fallbrook Street shared by three people now accused in her death.

The investigators also said Killgore had injuries on her wrist and leg that were consistent with someone using a tool, such as a saw, in an attempt to dismember her.

Detectives searched the house, where they found what was described in the papers as a sex room or dungeon, as well as a Ford Explorer owned by one of the suspects, Louis Ray Perez, a 45-year-old Camp Pendleton Marine.

Investigators who interviewed Perez shortly after Killgore was reported missing noticed mud caked on the vehicle’s undercarriage as well as on Perez’s shoes. He told them he had been collecting firewood on the Marine base and running on the beach.

Also found in the SUV were an empty lighter fluid bottle and a plastic lighter, as well as a shopping bag containing a stun gun, a bloody plastic bag and blue latex gloves. The blood matched Killgore’s DNA profile.

Along with Perez, two other people — Dorothy Grace Marie Maraglino, 37, and Jessica Lynn Lopez, 25 — have pleaded not guilty to murder charges in the 22-year-old’s death.

Online profiles posted by Maraglino and Perez show that the two practiced sadomasochism and bondage. Maraglino is described online as Perez’s “sex slave.”

Prosecutors have said they have no evidence that suggests Killgore had anything to do with that particular lifestyle. They have stressed that she is an innocent victim.

Just three days before she disappeared, Killgore filed for divorce from her husband, who was deployed to Afghanistan at the time.

Last month, Vista Superior Court Judge Runston Maino ordered the release of some search warrant documents related to the case after several news organizations, including U-T San Diego, asked the court to unseal them.

The District Attorney’s Office and two of the three defense lawyers objected to the request and later filed documents with the state 4th District Court of Appeal asking that the documents remain under seal.

On Wednesday, a three-judge panel from the appellate court denied the request.

Attorneys from the Public Defender’s Office, which represents Lopez, had asked that the documents not be released because they contain wording from a suicide note investigators said Lopez wrote before her arrest.

They argued that the information was inflammatory and could have a “chilling effect” on witnesses coming forward. The attorneys said much of the letter is “false and at least misleading and possibly delusional,” according to court documents.

U-T San Diego obtained a copy of the seven-page letter in May.

The letter indicates that it was Lopez — not Perez or Maraglino — who bound and strangled the victim and dumped her body near Lake Skinner in south Riverside County. The letter writer does not refer to either of the two co-defendants by name, but instead makes references to “Master” and “Mistress.”

“You have the WRONG (expletive) PERSON,” the note says.

Lopez’s letter says that she already lost Mistress once to someone who came between her and Master. Therefore, it says, “I knew what I had to do.”

Deputy District Attorney Patrick Espinoza, the lead prosecutor in the case, said in court that Perez had plans to take Killgore on a dinner boat cruise the night of April 13. Minutes after he picked Killgore up from her home, one of her friends received a text message that read, “Help.”

The next day, Perez was arrested on unrelated weapons charges. He told authorities he and drove Killgore to the Gaslamp Quarter in San Diego, where he dropped her off in front of a night club while he looked for parking.

About 15 minutes later, Perez arrived at front of the club but could not find Killgore, according to the documents. He said he looked for her for 30 minutes, but never went inside. He said he left the Gaslamp and headed home.

According to the documents, several text messages were sent from Perez to Killgore’s cellphone that night, some of which read: “Your friends are calling me worried;” “Where are you?” and “Ok now I am worried too.”

Killgore never responded. Her friend reported receiving a text message from Killgore’s phone that night that seemed “suspicious.”

The investigation revealed that Perez's and Killgore’s phones were used in Fallbrook that night at times when both were supposed to be in downtown San Diego.

In one of the documents, a sheriff's detective says he doesn't believe Perez ever intended to take Killgore on the dinner cruise and that he turned off her cellphone while she was being killed.